Advertising;A Saatchi & Saatchi survey indicates women are still unhappy with how they are depicted in ads.

DESPITE some progress, women are still quite unhappy with the way they are depicted in advertising, according to a new survey by Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising. They believe it frequently treats them as sex objects, and often does not realistically portray their changing roles as wives and mothers.

The ads that did appeal to the women whom Saatchi polled reflect values they consider important, such as the ability to be competent and caring, to be flexible about the many demands on their time and to define their lives on their own terms.

The survey suggests that if advertisers create messages that celebrate these values and accurately convey women's changing roles, they are more likely to succeed.

The findings by Saatchi, which is a unit of Cordiant P.L.C. and is rated by Adweek as the ninth-largest American advertising agency, echo similar concerns voiced informally by women in recent years about their treatment in both the media and advertising.

"Women subject advertising to scrutiny that men don't," said Myra Stark, Saatchi's senior vice president and director of knowledge management, who oversaw the study. "They've gone through three decades of incredible change, and in the course of this their image of themselves has changed. Because these images have been in a state of flux, they look to advertising with heightened sensitivity."

Women get two messages from advertising, she said, "one about the brand or product, the other about their identity. To the extent an advertiser understands women's experience and accurately portrays it, this will increase the likelihood his message won't disrupt his brand sell."

More than 300 American women ages 18 to 60 participated in the survey, conducted in the first quarter of this year; based on their comments, the agency concluded that two images currently dominate advertising.

The first, "face value/body beautiful," locates the source of women's power in their beauty, Ms. Stark said. "Surprisingly, while advertisers have freed women from the fear of not having a clean house, they seem to have increased their fear of getting old or being unattractive," she said. The second image, "maidens and mothers," presents women in terms of their reproductive and family relationships, Ms. Stark said.

Shown a number of past and present television commercials to stimulate discussion, the survey participants were critical of several ads that dealt with women's appearance. One, by the Leo Burnett Company for Special K cereal, features a svelte, leotard-clad young woman seductively trying on clothes in front of a mirror. Ms. Stark said the women who were polled found the woman in the ad to be "too self-involved and too narcissistic."

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

On the other hand, the women surveyed liked an ad for Procter & Gamble's Oil of Olay by Wells Rich Greene BDDP, a unit of BDDP Worldwide, in which a slightly chunky, pleasant-looking 36-year-old comedienne, photographed on stage and at home, talks about her skin care needs. The survey participants felt this ad "presented a real woman, an individual who is somewhat older and has dimensions beyond her appearance," Ms. Stark said.

Two ads that depicted working mothers drew differing responses from the women who were polled. They disliked a Federal Express commercial by BBDO, a unit of the Omnicom Group, that shows a mother frantically searching for a Federal Express package, asking her infant son where he has hidden it. Once she finds it, she tries to leave but cannot find her keys; she then asks her son where these are. Ms. Stark said the survey participants believed this woman "was presented as if she were out of control, frazzled." She added: "And they wanted to know who was going to stay with the baby. It was disturbing."

But they praised an ad for Apple Computer in which a mother, juggling several children and a ringing telephone, prepares a report on her home computer; she later tells her boss the report was done "in house" when he asks whom she'd hired to do it. Ms. Stark said this commercial, also by BBDO, was well received because it depicted "the improvisational woman, who makes it up as she goes along and has got it together."

Richard Lovell, a spokesman for the Kellogg Company, which makes Special K, said his company had received "some complaints" about the commercial that the survey participants criticized. But, "overall response to the campaign has not been negative," he said. "The brand continues to do well."

Philippe Krakowsky, a senior vice president of BBDO Worldwide, which created the Federal Express ad that came under fire, said, "Nothing we have ever heard from consumers about this or any of our Federal Express commercials, either informally or in research, is consistent with Saatchi's findings."

"However," he added, "the fact that a five-year-old commercial, which has not run in over three and a half years, was even included in their study seems at best irresponsible, and at worst might indicate it was chosen to elicit a specific reaction."

Ms. Stark said advertisers would be wise to follow in the footsteps of Wieden & Kennedy, whose television commercial for Nike, featuring a woman jogging in slow motion and urging women not to rush, was highly praised by poll participants. Like Nike, advertisers "need to take advantage of women's new opportunities, to link their product to women's sense of self-confidence and freedom," she said.